Southern California -- this just in

Couple wanted in slaying, crime spree arrested near Seattle

October 11, 2012 | 3:16
am

A couple allegedly on a crime spree that involved a slaying in
Northern California and an attempted murder, several carjackings and a
jailbreak in Southern California have been captured near Seattle, according to
authorities and media reports.

Darnell Washington, 24, and his wife, Tania Washington, 25, were
wanted in the attempted murder of Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy John
Marquez on Sept. 2, and the murder of Susie Ko, a retired teacher
from Hercules in Northern California, earlier this month.

"The
couple was driving a stolen vehicle taken during a home invasion robbery/murder"
in Hercules, Lt. Wes Sutton, supervisor of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s
Department homicide detectives, wrote in an email. "Homicide Bureau investigators will be
responding to Washington."

The suspects were arrested in the Seattle suburb of SeaTac after a
patrol officer noticed their car, a blue Subaru station wagon, which he hadn't
seen in the area before, according to reports in the San Jose Mercury News and the San Francisco Chronicle.

The officer called in the license number of the car, which had been reported as stolen. The driver attempted flee, but officers boxed in the car and
arrested the couple, according to the newspaper reports.

On Aug. 28, authorities said, Darnell Washington, allegedly with the help of his
wife, broke out of San Bernardino County's Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center
in Devore, where he was awaiting sentencing for robbery and receiving stolen
property.

On the morning of Sunday, Sept. 2, Marquez came upon a white Ford Explorer near a South El Monte 7-Eleven. He checked on the license number of the vehicle, which came up as connected to a robbery, officials said.

Theys said Marquez then confronted the couple as they were leaving the
store. Darnell Washington, who wears a tattoo with the words "By Any Means," allegedly emerged from the side of the vehicle with a
shotgun. A gunfight ensued during which Marquez was wounded in the arm.

The couple then drove off, abandoned the Explorer and
carjacked another vehicle in South Gate, officials said.

On Oct. 5, in Hercules, neighbors found Ko’s body in her
home after her husband called from the airport, where she was supposed
to pick him up, officials said. Ko had been stabbed to death.

Her blue Subaru station wagon was missing -– the same Subaru, authorities said,
that the SeaTac police officer noticed on patrol Wednesday morning.